Heavy Lids
by GlitterFrog
Summary: Set directly after the events of the movie. Tooth's all worn out and can't keep her eyelids from drooping on the sleigh ride out of Burgess. Jack's not quite sure what to do. Definitely fluff, a bit of shipping in there.


A/N: Yay, my first RotG fic! I liked this movie and found Jack and Tooth super adorable, so writing for this fandom at some point was pretty much inevitable. Please be gentle, but I welcome concrit. Hope you enjoy!

Heavy Lids

Jack Frost was now officially a Guardian, and the Boogeyman had been vanquished and banished. This was an occasion to be celebrated with copious amounts of eggnog and festive desserts. At least if you asked North it was. The jolly old saint was audibly running through his mental catalogue of cookie and pie recipes at a mutter. The other Guardians talked over him, speaking more loudly(and gesturing more excitedly) than they normally would have. Everyone was in high spirits.

"We got Pitch!" Tooth gushed.

"That rotter's down for the count!" Bunny agreed, looking satisfied. Not even sleigh-sickness could stamp out his one-sided smile.

Sandy pumped his fists in the air and blew a glittering noisemaker.

Jack was grinning so hard that his face hurt. Not only did he know his purpose, he had finally been _seen_- by just about every kid in his hometown! He would never have to be alone again. Beside him, Tooth chattered on. Dozens of fairies were snuggled into her plumage, recovering from their ordeal. Jack could feel more of their tiny bodies weighing down his hood and snuggling like sardines in his hoodie's front pocket. Periodically, one or two would press tiny ticklish kisses onto the base of his neck or the knuckles and tips of his long pale fingers. The winter spirit rubbed the back of his neck but didn't rat the culprits out. He didn't mind a little tickling, and all the attention was actually kind of nice.

If Tooth noticed their behavior, she allowed it. The feathered fairy was catching up with Baby Tooth and telling her how brave she was to have stood up to Pitch. Baby Tooth lowered her head modestly, but she was glowing.

"She saved me," Jack confessed, "When I'd given up."

Tooth gave Jack a squeeze, her big purple eyes misty. "Oh, Jack," she breathed.

Frosty air rushed past the speeding sleigh. Tooth didn't finish her thought.

Jack nudged her. "Uhhh, hey. Tooth?"

The hummingbird hybrid's head lolled onto his shoulder. Her tiny mouth was slightly parted; her round eyes shut. Heat that had nothing to do with the proximity of many tiny warm bodies crept up Jack's pale neck. Tooth was asleep. His first impulse was to wake her up. As he reached up to jog her shoulder, though, Jack reconsidered. They were all exhausted, both from facing Pitch's nightmare army and from a bout of not being believed in. If Tooth was tired enough to take a nap in midsentence, Jack wasn't going to be the one to wake her. Crashing through North's tunnels would almost certainly do that.

Jack did his best to swallow his embarrassment and shifted so that Tooth could rest against him more comfortably. A low, knowing, "Ooh," directed towards his right ear made the Guardian of fun look up sharply. Bunny looked incredibly smug. Sandy wiggled his eyebrows.

Jack's ears burned. "Cut it out," he whisper-hissed, becoming fascinated with his bare toes.

Bunny's grin only grew. He began chanting just above a whisper. "Jack an' Toothiana, sittin' in a tree."

"_Seriously?"_ Jack spat.

"K-i-s-s-i-n-g."

Sandy kept time with his pointer fingers.

"Okay, I am so not listening to this."

"First comes _love, _then comes marriage…"

"Lalala."

"_Then _comes a baby in a-" The Easter Bunny was heartily shushed by Baby Tooth and several other fairies that were also trying to sleep. Sandy ceased conducting. "Sorry, girls," Bunny mouthed.

The fairies snuggled back into their respective spots buried in Tooth's feathers or Jack's hoodie.

"What?" North hollered, from up front, "Jack, you and Tooth are getting married?"

"Wha-_ no!"_ Jack's face felt like it would combust and flake off at any moment.

That set Bunny and Sandy off all over again. The cloud of fairies surrounding the sleigh squeaked irascibly, wanting their sisters and their leader to be able to sleep. Jack risked a glance down at Tooth; she hadn't so much as twitched during the ordeal. Involuntarily, the silver-haired boy relaxed. As he did, he was made newly aware of just how warm Tooth's body was against his. The feathers that touched his skin were fluffy and almost indescribably soft. He could feel the miniscule shifts near her ribcage as she breathed, as well as the speedy flutter of her heartbeat. It was strange to see her so still, but it wasn't a bad strange. She looked so relaxed. Peaceful. Peeking down at her, Jack couldn't help but share in the-

"Heads up! We come to shortcut now!"

A portal shimmered and swirled to life. As the sleigh rushed in, every inch of the craft juddered. Tooth snorted awake just as the sleigh shot down. Her head popped up as Jack's jerked down. There was a small but wince-worthy clunk of bone against bone. The vibrant fairy's eyes rolled back in her head, and she slumped down into Jack's lap. The Guardian of fun clutched his chin, groaning through a slack jaw and trying to blink away a haze of stars that had suddenly materialized.

"Ahh- ow." His eyes snagged on Tooth, unmoving. "Oh jeez-"

He didn't have time to finish his sentence. North urged his reindeer into the tunnels and almost straight into a loop-de-loop. Jack hung onto the back of the sleigh with one arm and held the prone Tooth with his other arm. Bunny clung to Sandy, scrunching his eyes in an effort to keep his most recent meal down. Sandy closed his eyes and smiled, enjoying the heart-stopping defiance of gravity. North's hearty laughter boomed, swirling in the air like the sparks that were spurting from the sleigh's runners.

Several bladder-testing turns later, the reindeer braked in a colossal garage. North got down from his seat and patted the panting animals' sides as two yetis undid the harness straps. As the reindeer were led to their separate stalls, the other Guardians got out of the sleigh. Jack carried Tooth. Her arm hung limply from his grip.

North's eyes widened. "What happened?"

"Accident," Jack mumbled; his jaw still ached something awful. "We bumped into each other coming into the portal, and I'm pretty sure she got knocked out."

"Crikey, mate," Bunny stared at the pair. "It looks like ya killed the bloody tooth fairy."

"Well, I didn't," Jack told him, a bit testily.

Sandy peered anxiously up at his feathered friend as he trotted alongside Jack.

"I will have a look at her when we go in," North promised, and led the way into his home.

Tooth had woken to North shining a light directly into her eye. Once Sandy had let go of her eyelid, the Guardian of memories had realized that she'd been sitting in Jack Frost's lap, and that she'd drooled on the sleeve of his hoodie. All things considered, she reflected, it had been a rather interesting morning.

Tooth raised her glass of eggnog to her lips and took a sip, careful not to disturb Jack. The winter spirit's head was currently resting in her lap, and he was getting the first real sleep that he'd had in over two days. Tooth's eyes took in the rest of the room over the rim of her glass. Bunny was curled up beside the fireplace like a gigantic festive throw pillow. North was slumped in his favorite armchair on the other side of the fireplace, snores bubbling from his slack lips.

Sandy lay on the arm of the couch nearest Tooth, half a cookie still raised to his mouth. The coziness of the fire and the hot gingerbread men had had the boys nodding off the minute they'd chosen to sit down. The fairies that had still been conscious had been quick to follow, coating the floor and every unoccupied inch of furniture like shining carpet and upholstery.

A grin stretched across the Tooth Fairy's lips. Her friends were recovering their strength. The boy she'd been fond of for centuries was resting with his head and one arm in her lap. The high-ceilinged room was warm and smelled wonderful. _She_ was warm, not to mention comfortably full. The excitement and stress of the previous days was winding down in a slow, savory way. There could not have been a more perfect time to take a nap.

Tooth only wished that she wasn't wide awake.


End file.
